HTX-KTY: Impact 9/2/2025

Katy officials are considering implementing landscaping regulations with the goal of protecting city trees.

Zooming in: City Planner Rachel Lazo presented several suggestions that would require more landscaping at several properties across Katy at the Aug. 25 special meeting.

Diving in deeper: Lazo also presented a plan to preserve trees with a circumference above 25 inches within the Old Katy District and above 60 inches within city limits.

What they’re saying: Several City Council members said the requirements seemed too stringent for the city to be regulating itself.

What’s next: While no meeting time has been set yet, City Council will have another meeting to discuss the landscaping ordinance in the future before potential approval.

Fort Bend County Commissioners Court is moving to Thursday meetings following the passage of a new state law aimed at increasing resident participation in local governments.

The court will now meet on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 1 p.m. starting Oct. 9, county officials said. Meetings on Sept. 9 and 23 are expected to proceed as scheduled.

Zooming in: House Bill 1522, authored by State Rep. Stan Gerdes, R-Smithville, was passed June 20 during the 89th Texas Legislature to increase the current 72-hour notice requirement for public meetings to three business days, meaning weekends and holidays no longer count toward the minimum posting period.

What’s next: The court will begin the new meeting schedule in October with an exception for Nov. 20 and Dec. 18, which will be held a week early due to holidays, per agenda documents.

Harris County Flood Control District officials are looking for residents to provide input with their flood experiences during extreme weather events and how the county’s 11 watersheds have impacted their communities.

Two-minute impact: Along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the HCFCD is spearheading Phase 1 of what’s being called the Solutions for Advancing Floodplain Evaluation and Resilience study. The SAFER study’s aim, according to HCFCD, is to evaluate and identify large-scale flood risk reduction projects across these 11 watersheds in Harris County:

• Brays Bayou
• Buffalo Bayou
• Clear Creek
• Cypress Creek
• Little Cypress Creek
• Greens Bayou
• Halls Bayou
• Hunting Bayou
• Sims Bayou
• Vince Bayou
• White Oak Bayou
  
  

What residents should know: The online survey on the HCFCD website is available for Phase 1 public input until Sept. 25.

Sam Houston State University’s College of Oseopathic Medicine in Conroe and OakBend Medical Center officially launched their new residency program in Richmond, Texas, according to an Aug. 25 news release.

In a nutshell: The four residents who make up the first class of the new residency program began training Aug. 1, according to the release. The program will grow to 12 residents across three years. Residents will train at OakBend Medical Center and its affiliated clinicals to get experience in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Quote of note: “This residency is a natural extension of SHSU-COM’s mission,” SHSU-COM Dean Dr. Thomas J. Mohr said in the release. “We are committed to building programs that help increase the number of physicians serving in Texas. This collaboration with OakBend Medical Center is an important step toward that goal.”

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’ new congressional map into law Aug. 29, declaring in a video posted to social media that “Texas is now more red in the United States Congress.”

The details: Under Texas’ current congressional boundaries, Republicans hold 25 of Texas’ 38 congressional seats. State lawmakers have said the new map will help them gain up to five more during the 2026 midterm elections.

Texas Democrats have called the mid-decade redistricting effort unconstitutional and "racially discriminatory," while Republicans asserted that the map "complies with the law" and was designed to help more Republicans get elected to the U.S. House.

Next steps: Texas’ new congressional map is set to take effect in early December, although it will be discussed in court two months earlier. After state senators approved the map Aug. 23, the League of United Latin American Citizens and a group of Texas residents filed a lawsuit asking that the map be found unconstitutional.

A panel of three federal judges will hear arguments in the case Oct. 1-10 in El Paso.